The present invention relates to a device for connecting plates and/or rods, in particular light construction plates and rods made of wood, plastic, etc., with junction pieces featuring numerous threaded holes whose axes intersect at the center of each junction piece, and with tap bolts which are disposed so they can be rotated or shifted axially in the area of the plate corners and/or rod extremities within the planes of the plates and/or along the axes of the rods and which can be screwed into the threaded holes of the junction pieces.
Such connecting device is known, e.g., from German DE-OS No. 25 26 660. In that device, however, the tap bolts are mounted into the truncated corners of shallow tub-shaped sheet metal elements which are filled with a compression-resistant material, such as concrete, after the tap bolts have been screwed into the threaded holes of the junction pieces. Since the tap bolts are no longer accessible after such filling, the plates thus formed can no longer be readily disassembled. Such an assembly technique may be suitable for particular applications but it requires a very special plate structure.
In addition, three-dimensional latticeworks are known which consist of metal rods and junction pieces, the latter being provided with numerous concentric threaded holes. In the rod extremities of these known constructions, tap bolts, mounted so they can be rotated and shifted axially, can be screwed into the threaded holes of the junction pieces by means of so-called drive-collars whose connection with the tap bolts is such that the collars cannot rotate but can be shifted axially within certain limits. After the assembly has been completed, these drive-collars are then wedged between the respective junction piece and rod extremity. This assembly construction has proven to be effective in many three-dimensional latticeworks subjected to static stress.